Rare Earth Elements (REE) in Lunar Meteorites

Rocks from the Moon and Earth
differ in their relative concentrations of the REE - rare earth elements (atomic
numbers 57 to 71). These differences are usually depicted on a "rare
earth plot" such as those below. The concentration of each element in
the rock is divided by its concentration in chondritic meteorites and these
normalized concentrations are plotted against atomic number of the REE. Thus,
the REE pattern of most chondrites is a horizontal line at 1 on the Y axis.
Most rocks from the Earth and Moon are "enriched" in REE compared
to chondrites. Also, on both planets the "light REE" - those on the
left side of the plots are relatively more enriched than the heavy REE -
those of the right side.

A distinct characteristic of
lunar rocks compared to many Earth rocks is behavior of the element Eu
(europium). Eu can exist in both the +2 and +3 oxidation states whereas the
other REE exist only in the +3 state. On Earth, where conditions are much
more oxidizing than on the Moon, most Eu is in the +3 state, so Eu behaves
like the other (trivalent) REE. On the Moon, where there is no free oxygen,
most of the Eu is in the +2 (reduced) oxidation state. During geochemical
processes like crystallization of a magma, Eu2+ preferentially
goes into the plagioclase feldspar whereas the other REE "prefer"
to stay in the liquid phase. Thus, feldspathic lunar rocks have a "positive
Eu anomaly" and later crystallizing rocks have a "negative Eu
anomaly." Some terrestrial rocks have Eu anomalies, but seldom as strong
as those in lunar rocks.

This plot compares REE concentrations in
feldspathic lunar meteorites. All the meteorites are breccias. Only a few of
these meteorites have moderately high concentrations of REE. The othersprovide the best estimates of the
composition of the surface of the feldspathic highlands crust distance from
the Procellarum KREEP Terrane (Korotev et al., 2003). They are all
characterized by a strong positive Eu anomaly. For comparison, also shown are
the concentrations in the average upper crust of the Earth (mean, from
compilation Lodders and Fegley, 1998). On average, the terrestrial crust has
distinctly different relative concentrations of REE than the lunar
feldspathic crust.

This
plot compares REE concentrations in lunar meteorites of intermediate iron
concentration. All are breccias. The meteorites at the bottom are mafic
anorthosites - rocks of the feldspathic highlands. Many of the rocks in the
middle of the distribution are mixtures of mare and highlands material.
Meteorites plotting at the top contain a large component of KREEP and likely
originate from in or near the Procellarum KREEP Terrane. Many of the
meteorites in the middle of the distribution also contain a component of
KREEP, thus the shape of the patterns are the same.

All of the meteorites depicted on this plot are
basalts or breccias composed mainly of basaltic material. Some lunar basalts
are "depleted in light REE" compared to rocks from the highlands.
Most lunar basalts have negative Eu anomalies